Bob Weber
Pre-takeoff checklist
- Joined
- Jan 29, 2019
- Messages
- 193
- Display Name
Display name:
Autopilot Whisperer
This is a project I was a part of nearly 30 years ago. The most vivid memory of the several copies we made, was the one they brought in from Gabon, West Africa. The African Queen.. I have no before pics of it, but I think N687AE was the bird, you will see this written on a radome in one of the pictures. This was the project that developed multiple STC's by multiple entities. I accompanied the pilot, not only on the first flight with the hotrod engines, but also to present the avionics modifications to the FAA inspector at Yingling Aviation in Wichita. We were presenting a two tube, with an MFD, Collins Proline 2 modification to an already modified 441 Cessna.
We were out of there by lunch..
Weststar developed the -10 conversion to the engines, and we were working just as hard as Garrett, on the other mods. We began with a nice big pair of wire cutters!
This is a shot of the nose mods, I designed it to where we could swap any redundant equipment quickly, with minimal tools. Serviceability I called it. Here you see the inverters, the harnesses were easily swapped. This project was the beginning of a bevy of medivac aircraft for Samaritan Hospitals in the Phoenix area if memory serves. To the right you see the provisions for the forward air conditioner, that mod prompted a pretty good inspection of the nosegear after the first flight test!
We were out of there by lunch..
Weststar developed the -10 conversion to the engines, and we were working just as hard as Garrett, on the other mods. We began with a nice big pair of wire cutters!
This is a shot of the nose mods, I designed it to where we could swap any redundant equipment quickly, with minimal tools. Serviceability I called it. Here you see the inverters, the harnesses were easily swapped. This project was the beginning of a bevy of medivac aircraft for Samaritan Hospitals in the Phoenix area if memory serves. To the right you see the provisions for the forward air conditioner, that mod prompted a pretty good inspection of the nosegear after the first flight test!